Rotary



March3, 1964 BREEBACK 3,123,105

ROTARY FILLING MACHINE WITH VALVE TRIP CONTROLLING MECHANISM Filed May 10, 1961 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIGJ.

WQwMW ATTORNEYS MaI'Ch 1964 R. H. BREEBACK 3,

ROTARY FILLING MACHINE WITH VALVE TRIP CONTROLLING MECHANISM Filed May 10, 1961 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 BY MM? W ATTORNEYS March 3, 1964 ROTARY FIL R H. BREEBACK LING MACHINE WITH VALVE TRIP CONTROLLING MECHANISM Filed May 10, 1961 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 \INVENTOR RUOOLP/l HE/VRVBFEEBHCK ATTORNEYS March 3, 1964 R. H. BREEBACK 3,123,105 ROTARY FILLING MACHINE WITH VALVE TRIP CONTROLLING MECHANISM Filed May 10, 1961 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 BY MZw-w ATTORNEYS March-3, 1964- R, H. BREEBACK 3,123,105

ROTARY FILLING MACHINE WITH VALVE TRIP CONTROLLING MECHANISM Filed My 10, 1961 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 VALVE VALVE STOP BRACKET SHUTOFF TRIP CAM 2: v "T 42 M I A I a B FIG.6. 32

/BEER TRIP CAM INVENTOR 74 -r 33 H0004 PH A f/VF? BREEZE/96k ATTORNEYS March 3, 1964 Filed May 10, 1961 R. ROTARY FILLI FIG! H. BREEBACK NG MACHINE WITH VALVE TRIP CONTROLLING MECHANISM 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 CPRESSURE TRIP OVER-RIDE CAM cPREssuRE TRIP CAM - I a a I INVENTOR ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,123,195 ROTARY FILLING MACHINE WH'H VALVE TRE CGNTRQLHNG MECHANISM Rudolph Henry Breebacir, Baltimore, Md, assignmto Crown lurk & Seal Company, ind, Philadelphia, Pin,

a corporation of New York Fiied May 10, 1961, Ser. No. 109,199 16 Claims. (Cl. 141-147) The present invention relates to valve trip controlling mechanisms and detectors for filling machines and, more particularly, to valve trip controlling mechanisms and detectors for rotary filling machines adapted to fill containers with carbonated beverages including beer and soft drinks.

Filling machines of the type used to fill containers such as bottles or cans with carbonated beverages ordinarily are provided with some arrangement to prevent the filling head from operating in the event that no container is positioned beneath the filling head to receive the beverage. The filling head usually is of the type including a valve body having a container engaging nozzle depending fllereoelow and a rotary valve element with a pair of valve operating arms adapted to rotate the valve element from shut-off position to counterpressure position, liquid fiow position and back to shut-0E position. The filling heads move with the rotating filling table about a vertical axis. Valve trips in the path of the operating arms as the filling head rotates with the rotary table cause the various movements of the valve element. While the cycle has been described as shut-ofi, counter-pressure and liquid fiow, it will, of course, be understood that the cycle may vary to include blowout and snift where the beverage so requires.

In the prior systems for preventing the filling head valve from operating in the event of no container being positioned therebeneath to receive the beverage, a movable trip was usually provided for the counterpressure trip, the trip being normally in the path of the operating arms to move the valve element to counterpressure. However, upon detection of no container beneath a filling head, the trip which reciprocated transversely across the path of the valve operating arm was withdrawn so that the valve operating arm was not contacted and thus the valve element was not moved to counterpressure position but remained in flow shut-oft position. When the filling head reached the trip which ordinarily moved the valve from counterpressure position to liquid flow position, its valve operating arm would not contact with the second or filling trip. In short, by retracting the counterpressure trip plunger when a filling head had no container aligned therewith, such filling head remaining inoperative through the remainder of the normal filling cycle.

In recent years, the rotary speed of the rotary filling table has been increased to where it is now possible to fill containers at the rate of 900 to 950 containers per minute or more. With the increase in speed of the rotary table for accomplishing filling of more containers per minute, the time to retract and extend the movable tm'p element between adjacent filling heads decreased because the filling heads which are circumferentially spaced about the rotary filling table moved past the trip at a greater speed. Because of the greater speed of the rotary filling table, difiiculties have been encountered in obtaining a.

fast, positive movement or" the movable trip into and out of the path of a valve operating arm to obtain the abovementioned results. Incomplete setting of the valve operating arm often occurred because the trip element could not be moved fast enough into and out of the path of the same. Damage resulted to the carriage of the filler when the trip was extended into the path of a valve operating arm, but the valve operating arm was engaged on its side because of a lag of time in the operation of the trip. Also, damage resulted to the shaft of the rotating valve element causing leakage of the valve. Further, in withdrawing the trip from the path of the valve operating arms, oftentimes it could not be retracted fast enough and, consequently, partially rotated the valve element toward the counterpressure position, thus causing the valve element to be rotated sufficiently to have its operating arm engaged by the liquid flow trip during the course of the normal cycle of the machine, thus spilling Liquid from filling head over parts of the filling machine immediately therebeneath.

An object of the present invention is to provide a rotary filling machine with a simplified trip and detector mechanism for use on high speed rotary filling machines which is positively operated and which may be moved into and out of the path of the valve operating arms quickly and positively without the danger of damage to the valve assembly or the carriage of the filler.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a rotary filling machine with a valve trip controlling mechanism which operates in a plane substantially normal to the axis of rotation of the valve element and parallel to the axis of rotation of the rotary filling table whereby movement of the valve trip into and out or" the path of the operating arm is such that damage to the valve assembly or the carrier of the filling machine cannot result.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved filling cycle for carbonated beverages wherein fixed trips are provided for shut-off, counterpressure and liquid fiow and a movable trip is provided intermediate counterpressure and liquid flow, the movable trip being positioned in the path of the valve operating arms to move the valve element to shut-oti position only if a container is not present beneath the filling head.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved filling valve having a rotary valve element, there being provided positive stops between the extremities of rotation of the valve element, namely, between shut-off and liquid flow positions if such are the case.

Ancillary to the preceding object, it is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved filling valve for filling containers with carbonated beverages, the filling valve having a rotary valve element and trip means which prevent overriding of the rotary valve element at any position of operation intermediate its limits of rotation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a movable trip mechanism for use on high-speed rotary filling machines, the trip mechanism being so arranged that the distance Within which it has to operate on valve operating arms of the rotary valve elements is increased.

Ancillary to the preceding object, it is a further object of the present invention to provide a rotary filling machine with filling heads circumferentially spaced about the same, adjacent filling heads having valve operating arms offset with respect to each other so that they travel in difierent rotary paths, when traveling with the rotary filling table, the movable trip mechanism being arranged to operate over two pitches rather than one, and thus actually extending the usable time for operation to two pitches.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a detector mechanism mounted beneath the movable trip mechanism for detecting the presence or absence of containers beneath the filling heads, the detector mechanism having a shoe arranged in the path of and engaging the containers.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear more fully in the specification, claims and drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view partly in elevation of the upper portion of a rotary filling machine incorporating the present invention, the View showin only one filling head for purposes of clarity;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary schematic layout plan view of the trip mechanism of the present invention illustrating its relationship to the separate rotary paths of the valve operating arms of the valve elements of the filling heads;

3 is an enlarged, fragmentary view partly in elevation and partly in section of the trip mechanism of the present invention, the operation of the trip levers being shown in broken lines engaging the operating arm of a valve element and moving the valve element to shutoff position;

FTGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary and elevational view taken substantially on the line 4 of FIGURE 2 and illustrating the trip mechanism and container detector mechanism;

Fl-GURE 5 is a fragmentary View taken on the line 55 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a schematic fragmentary view illustrating the progressive steps'of a filling head approaching the shut-off tripcam, the valve element being rotated by the shut-off trip cam to the shut-off position;

FTGURE 7 is a schematic view similar to FEGURE 6 but showing the valve element in a shut-elf position and a lower valve operating arm engaging the counterpressure trip to rotate the valve element to counterpre'ssure position;

FIGURE SS is similar to FIGURE 7 but illustrating the valve element rotated to counterpressure position and being limited in its travel so as not to override counterpressure position;

FEGURE 9 is aschematic View of the cycle of operation of the filling head illustrating in solid lines the valve element in counterpres sure position and engaging the liquid fiow trip cam at the left side thereof and the rotation of the valve element to liquid flow position at the right side thereof, the view also showing in broken lines the position of the valve element moved to shut-off position by the trip mechanisms illustrated in FlGURE 3 after counterpressure and before liquid flow so that the lower valve operating arm avoids the liquid flow cam; and

FEGURE 10 is a fragmentary sectional view through a typical filling head taken on the line lit-11' of FIGURE 9 and illustrating in broken lines the arrangement of valve operating arm for an adjacent filling head.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like charcter or reference numerals represent like or similar parts, the filling machine of the present invention is best illustrated in FIGURE 1.

in more detail, the filling machine is of the rotary type which includes a stationary base structure generally designated by the numeral 1%, a bearing post, not shown, on which a hollow column or sleeve 12 is rotatably mounted. The arrangement of the base structure 16 including its work table and the bearing post as well as the drive for the rotary column or sleeve 12 of the filling machine may be of the general type shown in the prior art and, in particular, United States patents to Robert J. Stewart and Wiltie I. Gladfelter, Nos. 2,097,107 and 2,202,033, for Filling Machine, issued October 26, 1937, and May 28, 1940, respectively. The sleeve or column 12 carries a rotary filling table 14 having a plurality of vertically movable container supporting platforms 15 mounted on and circumferentially spaced about its periphery. Containers are successively fed along the work table of the stationary base structure and transferred therefrom onto the container supporting platforms 16 as the platforms 1% successively pass the infeed station of the filling machine. Column 12 and table 14 are rotated about the bearing posts by any suitable source of power, such as a motor, and suitable means including cams, air cylinders or the like are provided for causing the container support i ing platforms 16 to be moved vertically upwardly and downwardly.

A plurality of filling heads 18 carried by the rotary table 14 in circumferentially spaced relationship to each other are in alignment with the container supporting platforms, it being understood that the containers C are raised into sealing engagement therewith for the filling cycle to be described later in the specification.

A reservoir Zll supported on and forming part of the rotary table 14 is provided for a carbonated liquid such as beer or soft drinks and a superposed body of gas such as carbon dioxide. Suitable liquid flow lines 22 and gas flow lines 24 are provided between each filling head 18 and the reservoir 24 The. detailed construction of the filling head and its gas and liquid passages therethrough is not disclosed in detail herein as it may be of the usual type filling head used on rotary filling machines of this type. For example, the filling head 18 may be ofthe type disclosed in detail in my prior United States Patent 2,953,169, issued September 20, 1960, for Filling Machines. It will sufiice to say that each filling head 18 is provided with a valve body 26 and arotatable valve element 23 having upper and lower valve operating arms 3i? and 32, respectively.

Theupper and lower valve operating arms 30 and 32 extend generally on radii of the axis of rotation of the valve element 28. The valve element 28 of each filling head rotates on an axis extending radially of the vertical axis of rotation of the rotating filling table 14.

The filling cycle for such a filling machine as heretofore described and as disclosed in the aforementioned patents includes transferring the empty container C to the platform 16 when the platform'is in its lower position and the valve assembly of the filling head is in the shutoff position, elevating the platform to raise the container into sealing engagement with the filling nozzle of the filling head and then placing the container under counterpres'sure by rotating the valve element 28 to a position where the gas passages in the valve body 26, valve element 28 and the nozzle of the filling ,head are aligned. Further rotation of the valve element 28in the same direction causes liquid flow from the reservoir 20 through the valve body, valve element and nozzle into the con tainerWhile'simultaneously venting gas from the containor. The valve element 28 is then rotated in a reverse direction through the counter-pressure stage toflow shutofi stage and the container is'then lowered from the filling head andv transferred to suitable container closing mechanisms such as a can seamer or bottle capper. As mentioned at the outset of thespecification, it will be understood that the filling cycle may be modified to provide for snifting the container after filling or blowout of liquid and gas passages, especially where the carbonated beverage is under high pressures.

To'accomplislr rotation of the filling valve element 28 about its horizontal rotary axis to the various positions heretofore described, it will be understood by reference to FIGURES 6, 7 and 9 the filling heads 1s move in a rotary path with the filling table and a shut-off trip cam 3'4- positioned in the path of operating arm 36 and fixed to the base structure in any suitable manner engages and rotates the valve element 28 to shut-oft" position. Continued movement of the filling head with the rotary filling table 14 brings the lower arm 32 of the valve element into engagement with a counterpressure trip cam 36 (FIGURES 7 and 8) in its rotary path and the valve element 28, assuming the filling head is moving in the direction of the arrows A, is rotated clockwise to counterpressure position. The counterpressure trip cam 36is fixed to the base structure 1% in any suitable manner.

Next, continued movement of the filling head 18 with the i wise direction to liquid flow and vent position. After the container has been filled with liquid, the upper operating arm 30 of filling head 18 will then engage cam 34 and the valve element is rotated in a counterclockwise direction to the shut-off position so the container C may be lowered by platform away from the filling head and transferred to suitable container closing apparatus.

As clearly shown in FIGURES 6 and 9, the valve body 26 is provided with a pin element 46 which is adapted to abut stop pins 42 and 44 provided on the periphery of rotatable valve element 28. When the valve assembly including the valve body 26 and valve element 28 are in the shut-off position, as shown at the right hand side of FIGURE 6, the shut-ofi stop pin 44 abuts the pin element 49 to prevent further rotation of the valve element in a counterclockwise direction. Likewise, when the valve element 28 has been rotated to liquid flow and gas vent ing position, as shown in the right hand side of FIG- URE 9, the stop pin 42 engages the pin element 49 on the opposite side thereof to prevent further rotation of the valve element 28 in a clockwise direction. By pro viding a pair of stop pins 42 and 44 on the valve element 28 and a stop pin element 46 on the valve body 26, it will now be seen that accurate positioning of the valve assembly occurs at shut-0E and liquid flow and venting positions. There can be no overriding of the valve element 28 with respect to the valve body 26 in these two positions.

The counterpressure trip 36 which moves the valve element 28 to a position intermediate the shut-off and the liquid flow and vent positions is also provided with means for preventing overriding of the valve element 28 with respect to the valve body 26 and thus assures proper aligning of the gas passages. Referring now to FIGURE 8, it will be noted that the counterpressure trip cam 36 has rotated the valve element 23 to a position intermediate shut-off position and liquid flow position. In order that there will be no overtravel of the valve element 28 when the operating arm 32 engages the cam 36, an override cam 46 suitably carried by the base structure above the trip cam 36 has a lower surface 48 properly arranged to just engage the upper valve operating arm 3% when the valve element 28 is moved to counterpressure position. Further rotation in the same direction by inertia developed during the camming of the valve element 28 by the cam 36 is positively prevented because of the override cam 46.

Referring now to FIGURES 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, it will be noted that the rotary filling machine of the present invention is provided with a valve trip controlling and container detector mechanism generally designated by the numeral 50. The trip control and container detector mechanism which is suitably supported on the stationary base structure is provided intermediate locations of the counterpressure trip cam 36 and the liquid flow and vent trip cam 38. The purpose of this mechanism is to determine the presence or absence of a container C on any of the platforms I6 beneath the filling head 18. If no container is present, the mechanism 50 is arranged to rotate the valve element 28 on its horizontal axis back from the counterpressure position, as illustrated in FIG- URE 8, to the shut-off position, as illustrated in the right hand portion of FIGURE 6. By rotating the valve element 28 back to the shut-o1? position, when the filling head 18 is carried by the rotary filling table past the liquid flow and vent trip cam 38, as shown in FIGURE 9, the lower arm 32, which would normally engage this cam, extends below the cam so that the valve element 28 will remain in the shut-off position for the remainder of the cycle of the filling head. It will be noted in FIGURE 10 that the operating arm 32 is provided with an outwardly extending portion 33, and it is this portion which engages the camrning surface 39 of cam 38. However, the outwardly extending portion 33, as shown in broken 6 lines in FIGURE 9, will ride below the cam 38 when the valve element 28 is in shut-0E position.

In more detail, the valve trip controlling and container detecting mechanism 56 includes a frame structure 52 suitably supported by the stationary base structure 10, the frame structure 52 housing a pair of solenoid operated air valves 54 and 56 and a pair of air operated cylinders 58 and 69. The cylinders 58 and 60 are pivotally suspended from brackets 62 and 64, respectively, which are carried by frame structure 52, so that the cylinders may swing about horizontal pivots 66 and 68. Each of the air cylinders 58 and 60 includes a piston 76 having a piston rod 72, the piston 70 being normally urged upwardly by a spring 74. Air is supplied through the solenoid valves 54 and 56 to the upper side of the pistons 7% in the cylinders 58 and 66, respectively, through flexible conduits 76 and 78, respectively, it being understood that a suitable source of air is provided for supplying air to the solenoid actuated valves 54 and 56, respectively. As will be explainedin more detail later in the specification, the lower ends or the piston rods '72 of air cylinders 58 and 6%), respectively, are connected to a movable trip mechanism generally designated by the numeral 89.

As best illustrated in FIGURES 4 and 5, a bracket 82 extends downwardly beneath the frame structure 52, the bracket 82 being adapted to support a lever 84 on a horizontal pivot pin 86 which extends in spaced tangential relationship to the rotary path of the container supporting platforms 16 with the rotary filling table 14. The lower end of the bracket 84 is curved inwardly toward the path of the container supporting platforms, as shown at 88, and is provided with a shoe 96 adapted to successively engage the outer peripheries of containers C traveling on platforms 16 as they pass the same. The shoe 96 is constantly urged into engagement with the outer periphery of the containers C by a spring 92 extending between an upwardly extending projection 94 on the lever 34 and a stud 96 provided on the frame structure 52.

Lever 8 is also provided with a horizontal extension arm 98 which extends outwardly away from the rotary filling table. At the outer free end of the extension arm fid, a fitting 169 having a vertical bore 161 is provided for adjustably supporting a threaded stud 102, the stud being provided with a head which is adapted to engage the actuating button 164 of a microswitch 106. The microswitch 166 is normally open when shoe 9% of the lever 84 is engaging a container as shown in FIGURE 4. However, in the absence of a container on one of the platforms 16 the lever 84 is caused to swing about its horizontal pivot 86 in the direction of the arrow B, thus causing the microswitch to be closed energizing a circuit to the solenoid air valves 54 and 56 to open the same and allow compressed air to be supplied to the upper side of the pistons 76 and thus move the same outwardly with respect to the air cylinders 58 and 60. In order that the shoe 9% of the lever will not swing too far across the normal path of a container on a platform 16', when it is detecting the presence of no container, an adjustable stop 11% is provided on the bracket 32 for engaging the projection 9 Referring now to FIGURE 10, a cross-sectional view through the rotary valve element 28 and the valve body 26 for one of the filling heads 18 is illustrated, a portion of an adjacent filling head 18 being superimposed thereon by broken lines. It will be noted that the valve body 26 is provided with a spindle 112 on which the valve element 28 rotates. Suitable nut means 114 hold the valve element 2% in proper sealing relationship with the disc face of the valve body 26. The upper operating arm 30 of the valve element 23 extends outwardly and upwardly from the valve element, as shown in full lines and is adapted to engage the shut-off trip cam 34. Since all filling heads 18 are mounted on the periphery of the filling table 14 about the same circumference, the present invention contemplates providing oifset upper valve operating arms Sll'on adjacent filling heads. in other words, as shown in broken lines and indicated by the numeral 3%, the adjacent filling head on either side of the filling head 16, shown in full lines, is provided with itsupper valve operating arm 3% offset inwardly on a different radius than the valve operating arm 3%, shown in full lines. In all other respects, the filling heads 18 are identical in structure. By providing every other fill ng head with the corresponding valve operating arms ofiset, every other filling head will have its offset valve operating arms traveling in spaced apart rotary paths when the filling heads are moving with the rotary filling table 14. At this point, it must be mentioned that the shutolf trip cam 34 must be a thickness on a radius of the filling table sufiicient to cover both rotary paths, as defined by the paths of operating arms 3%) and 30' of adjacent filling heads or separate side-byide cam elements positioned in the two rotary paths.

Referring to FIGURE 2, which is a schematic plan view, it will be noted that the center line of all of the filling valves will follow the curved path designated by the line 12% as they travel with the rotary filling table 14. Thus, all of the filling nozzles travel on the same radius as the filling table is rotated. However, the valve operating arms 36 of every other filling head 18 travel on the same radius defining the rotary path designated by the line 122, whereas the filling heads 18 in between the aforementioned filling heads 18 have their valve operating arms 3% traveling on a radius defining the rotary path designated by the numeral 124.

By the aforedescribed arrangement, the movable trip mechanism 89, which is normally held out of paths of the offset operating arms 39 and 34?, has twice the normal pitch between filling heads 18 in which to extend into and out of engagement with a valve operating arm 39 or 3%) to move its corresponding rotary valve element 28 to shut-off position. In other words, if there is no container on a particular container supporting platform 16, the trip mechanism 89 will extend downwardly into the path of the corresponding filling head and, more particularly, into the path of the arm 39 or 343' of that filling head to engage that arm to rotate the valve element 28 fromthe counterpressure position to shut-off position. Assumin the immediately following platform has a container thereon, the trip mechanism will immediately elevate. However, since it isnt in the path of the valve operating arm of the succeeding filling head, it will not interfere with the operation of the same.

, Referring to FIGURES l, 2 and 3, it will be noted that the trip mechanism 86 includes a first lever 126 and a second lever 128 spaced inwardly of the same. The levers 126 and 128 are pivotally carried on a horizontally extending pivot pin 13%) supported by a bracket 131 carried by frame structure 52, the pivot pin 13% extending transversely of and above the paths 122 and 124 of operating arms 36 and 39' or" the filling heads 18. The levers 126 and l28 extend from the pivot pin 130 generally in the direction of rotation of the filling heads, namely, in the direction of the arrow F shown in FIG- URE 2. Each lever is pivotally connected to each piston rod 72 ofair cylinders 58 and 69 by means of a yoke member 132 and, as mentioned above, when the air cylinders 58 and 6% are simultaneously actuated by closing of the microswitch we, both piston rods will extend downwardly to pivot both levers downwardly upon detection of a container missing from a container supporting platform. This movement of the levers downwardly is shown in FIGURE 3 in the broken line position, and it will be appreciated that the air cylinders 58 and 69 will pivot about their pivots 66 and 68, respectively, when the lever arm l26 is moved downwardly to the broken line position. One of the levers 126 or 128 will be in the path of the operating arm of the filling head having no container present therebeneath. The other lever per- $9 forms no action at this time. However, it will now be appreciated that the lever which is engaging the operating arm on one of the radii 122 or 124 has an eifective length of two pitches before another operating arm on the same radii will be presented therebeneath and, consequently, sulficient time is provided for the lever to be withdrawn if the succeeding platforms have containers present thereon.

While both lever arm trips 126 and 128 have been described as operable simultaneously by one detector shoe, it is well within the scope of the present invention to provide se arate detector means for detecting presence of containers on alternate platforms, so that only the lever arm trip involved is actuated.

By mounting the levers 126 and 128 for pivotal movement on a horizontal axis extending transverse of the rotary path or" movement of the valve operating arm 39 with the filling head 18, the lever arms 12.6 and 123 will move generally in the same plane as the plane in which the valve operating arms rotates on its horizontal axis. Consequently, the downward pivotal movement wherein the lever arms pivot to intersect the rotary paths of the valve operating arms with the rotary table at an acute angle thereto is such that the operating arms can be en gaged over an arc of their travel to be moved to the shut-oil position. In other words, no torque or force on a radius of the filling table is applied to the rotatable valve element which would be the case where a reciprocating plunger moves radially across the path of travel of the valve operating arm. If the reciprocating trip is not extended into the path of an operating arm prior to the arm reaching theposition where it engages the'trip, the trip would possibly engage the arm on its side, thus tending to cock the valve element with respect to the valve body causing damage to the seating-effect of the valve resulting in a leaking valve as well as possible damage to the carriage of the filling machine. The present invention obviates such difiiculty in that it can be actuated at any time and still rotate the valve element without damage tothe valve assembly or the carriage of the filling machine.

It is thus seen that the objects and advantages of the present invention have been fully and effectivelyaccomplished by the rotary filling machine illustrated in the drawings and described hereto. Of course,-certain modifications to' the movable trip mechanism and to the offset valve operating arm on alternate filling heads can be made without departing from the principles of the invention involved. For this reason, the terminology used in the specification is forthe purposes of description and not limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a rotary filling machine for filling containers with a carbonated liquid: 21 base structure; a rotary table carried by said'base structure, said table including a reservoir for carbonated liquid and superposed body of gas, a plurality of filling heads circumferentially spaced about and movable with'said table and operatively connected to said reservoir and containersupporting platforms therebeneath for supporting containers beneath said filling heads; each filling head including a valve body and a valve element rotatable with respect to said valve body about an axis radial of said table; each valve element includin a pair of operating arms extending substantially radially of said valve element axis; trip means carried by said base structure and spaced about the path of movement of said valve element with said table to engage 'said arms to move the valve element between shut-oil, counterpressure and liquid flow positions; and trip means positioned between the trip means for moving said valve element to counterpressure position and the trip means for moving said valve element to liquid flow position, said last mentioned trip means being normally out of the path of said operating arms and movable into the path of one of said operating arms when no container is beneath the corresponding filling head, said last mentioned trip means being adapted to rotate said valve element to shut-oil position.

2. In a rotary filling machine for filling containers with a carbonated liquid: a base structure; a rotary table carried by said base structure, said table including a reservoir for carbonated liquid and superposed body of gas, a plurality of filling heads circumferentially spaced about and movable with said table and operatively connected to said reservoir and container supporting platforms therebeneath for supporting containers beneath said filling heads; each filling head including a valve body and a valve element rotatable with respect to said valve body about an axis radial of said table; each valve element including a pair of operating arms extending substantially radially of said valve element axis upwardly and downwardly respectively; a first trip cam carried by said base structure in the rotary path of the upper arm for engaging the same and rotating the valve element to shut ofl? position; a second trip cam carried by said base structure in the rotary path of the lower arm for engaging the same and rotating the valve element to counter-pressure position; a third trip cam carried by said base structure in the rotary path of the lower arm for engaging the same after movement to counterpressure position and further rotating said valve element to liquid flow position; and a trip cam movable into and out of the rotary path of said upper arm at a point between counterpressure position and liquid flow position, said movable trip cam being normally out of the rotary path of said upper arm and movable into the path of said upper arm when there is no container beneath the corresponding filling head where said valve element is rotated back to shut-off position.

3. A rotary filling machine of the character described in claim 2 including a stop pin on said valve body, and a pair of spaced stop pins on said valve element arranged to provide respective engagement with the stop pin on said valve body when said valve element is in shut-off and liquid flow positions.

4. A rotary filling machine of the character described in claim 3 including an over-ride cam carried by said base structure and positioned above said counterpressure trip cam and arranged to engage the upper arm at the limit of rotation of the valve element by said counterpressure trip carn.

5. A rotary filling machine of the character described in claim 2 including an over-ride cam carried by said base structure and positioned above said counterpressure trip cam and arranged to engage the upper arm at the limit of rotation of the valve element by said counterpressure trip cam thereby preventing over-travel of said valve element.

6. A filling machine of the character described in claim 2 wherein said movable trip cam includes an elongated lever arm pivotally mounted on an axis to intesect the rotary path of the upper arm, said lever arm extending generally in the direction of movement of the filling heads with said table and pivotable to a position intersecting the rotary path of the upper arm at an acute angle thereto.

7. A filling machine of the character described in claim 6 wherein said lever is mounted on a horizontal pivotal axis above and extending transverse of the rotary path of the filling head, said lever arm being pivotable downwardly into the rotary path of the upper arm.

8. A machine of the character described in claim 2 including detector means operatively connected to said movable trip cam for determining the presence of a container, said detector means comprising a lever pivoted on said base structure mounted on a horizontal axis and havone portion depending downwardly with a shoe mounted thereon for contact with containers and a second portion extending outward-1y, resilient means urging said lever and its shoe toward the containers, a solenoid operated air valve energized by movement of the lever and 1% shoe inwardly when no container is present, and an air cylinder openatively connected to said movable trip cam and actuated .by energization of said solenoid operated air valve.

9. A filling machine of the character described in claim 8 wherein said movable cam is an elongated lever pivotally mounted on said base structure, and wherein said cylinder is pivotally connected at one end to said base structure and at its other end to said lever.

10. In a filling machine: a base structure; a rotary table carried by said base structure, said table including a plurality of filling heads circumtferentially spaced about and movable with said table and container supporting platforms therebeneath for supporting containers beneath said filling heads; each of said filling heads including a valve body and a valve element rotatable with respect to said body about an axis radial of said table; each of said valve elements including a pair of operating arms extending substantially radially of the valve element axis upwardly and downwardly respectively, at least one am of each pair of arms of one valve element being offset with respect to the corresponding arm of an adjacent valve element whereby they travel with said table in concentrically spaced rotary paths; trip means carried by said base structure and spaced about the path of movement of said valve elements for engaging the other arm of each valve element to rotate the same :to gas flow and liquid flow positions; and trip means carried by said base stnucture in the rotary paths of the adjacent offset arms of said valve elements for rotating the same to shut oil position after liquid fill position.

11. In a filling machine: a base structure; a rotary table carried by said base structure, said table including a plurality of filling heads circumferentially spaced about and movable "with said table and container supporting platforms therebeneath for supporting containers beneath said filling heads; each of said filling heads including a valve body and a valve element rotatable with respect to said body about an axis radial of said table; each of said valve elements including a pair of operating arms extending substantially radially of the valve element axis upwardly and downwardly respectively, at least one arm of each pair of arms of one valve element being offset with respect to the corresponding arm of an adjacent valve element whereby they travel with said table in concentrically spaced rotary paths; trip means carried by said base structure and spaced about the path of movement of said valve elements for engaging the other arm of each valve element to rotate the same to gas flow and liquid flow positions; trip means carried by said base structure in the rotary paths of adjacent ofiset arms of said valve elemerits for rotating e same to shut-ofi position after liquid fill position; and movable trip means carried by said base structure and positioned intermediate the trip means for moving said valve element to gas flow and liquid flow positions, said movable trip means being movable into the rotary paths of the oifset operating arms to engage one of the same and move its valve element to shut-0E position when there is no container under the corresponding filling head.

12. A filling machine of the character described in claim 11 wherein said adjacent ofiset operating arms are the upper operating arms of the valve elements and wherein said movable trip means is arranged to move from a position above the rotary paths downwardly into the rotary paths of said upper operating arms.

13. A filling machine of the character described in claim 11 wherein said movable tnip means includes a pair of levers, each lever being pivotally mounted for movement into and out of one of the rotary paths of said adjacent ofiset operating arms.

14. A filling machine of the character described in claim 11 where-in the adjacent offset operating arms are the upper operating arms of the valve elements and wherein the movable trip means includes a pair of levers, each 1 1 lever being pivotally mounted on a horizontal axis for movement into and out of one of the rotary paths of the upper offset operating arms.

15. A filling machine of the character described in claim 14 wherein said pair of levers are mounted o'n'the same hon'Zent-al axis extending transversely of and above the retary paths, said levers being pivotable downwardly to intersect the respective rotary paths at an acute angle thereto.

16. A filling machine of the character described in claim 15 including means to pivot said pair of levers simultaneously.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Huntley et a1. J an. 31, 1939 Stewart May 28, 1940 Breeback Dec. 27, 1955 Galloway Oct. 10, 1956 Day et a1 Mar. 5, 1957 Breeback Sept. 20, 1960 Manieri 0st. 24, 1961 

1. IN A ROTARY FILLING MACHINE FOR FILLING CONTAINERS WITH A CARBONATED LIQUID: A BASE STRUCTURE; A ROTARY TABLE CARRIED BY SAID BASE STRUCTURE, SAID TABLE INCLUDING A RESERVOIR FOR CARBONATED LIQUID AND SUPERPOSED BODY OF GAS, A PLURALITY OF FILLING HEADS CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SPACED ABOUT AND MOVABLE WITH SAID TABLE AND OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID RESERVOIR AND CONTAINER SUPPORTING PLATFORMS THEREBENEATH FOR SUPPORTING CONTAINERS BENEATH SAID FILLING HEADS; EACH FILLING HEAD INCLUDING A VALVE BODY AND A VALVE ELEMENT ROTATABLE WITH RESPECT TO SAID VALVE BODY ABOUT AN AXIS RADIAL OF SAID TABLE; EACH VALVE ELEMENT INCLUDING A PAIR OF OPERATING ARMS EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY RADIALLY OF SAID VALVE ELEMENT AXIS; TRIP MEANS CARRIED BY SAID BASE STRUCTURE AND SPACED ABOUT THE PATH OF MOVEMENT OF SAID VALVE ELEMENT WITH SAID TABLE TO ENGAGE SAID ARMS TO MOVE THE VALVE ELEMENT BETWEEN SHUT-OFF, COUNTERPRESSURE AND LIQUID FLOW POSITIONS; AND TRIP MEANS POSITIONED BETWEEN THE TRIP MEANS FOR MOVING SAID VALVE ELEMENT TO COUNTERPRESSURE POSITION AND THE TRIP MEANS FOR MOVING SAID VALVE ELEMENT TO LIQUID FLOW POSITION, SAID LAST MENTIONED TRIP MEANS BEING NORMALLY OUT OF THE PATH OF SAID OPERATING ARMS AND MOVABLE INTO THE PATH OF ONE OF SAID OPERATING ARMS WHEN NO CONTAINER IS BENEATH THE CORRESPONDING FILLING HEAD, SAID LAST MENTIONED TRIP MEANS BEING ADAPTED TO ROTATE SAID VALVE ELEMENT TO SHUT-OFF POSITION. 